And just like that, March is gone. Which is weird, because to me, March usually takes forever. It’s one of those months that doesn’t really have much going on, so it kind of just trudges along rather slowly. There is, of course, that one day of the month that everyone uses as an excuse to get belligerently drunk, but frankly, I fail to see what’s stopping people from doing that on any other day of the week. Whatever.
In any case, I feel the past month was actually fairly productive. I’ve got my first handful of blogs in the bag (and I’ve had a blast typing these up so far), I’ve been able to keep up with my writing more consistently, and I got to attend two highly anticipated concerts (more on those a bit later). I should note that the original plan for my blog was not to be posting weekly. I’d rather try to keep to a “once-a-month” schedule, but March left me with quite a few things to talk about.
I suspect April will be a bit quieter. That said, one big thing I know I’ll be writing about this month is the release of Northlane’s forthcoming album, Obsidian. That’s sort of a hot ticket item I know I’ll want to cover. I’ll also be attending one show or another each weekend in April, but I’ll probably do a full report on all of that for my first post in May. Stay tuned!
Keeping on the topic of writing, though, I mentioned a long while back in an Instagram post that I haven’t been able to share many new stories on my site. For those who have been keeping an eye out for new stories, I apologize that none have come through. As I noted previously, the lack of stories is on account of me having to save up for when I submit pieces to literary magazines. Most magazines want to get first publication rights from writers, so I can’t go posting things online and then trying to submit them. That’s just crummy business right there.
Currently, I’ve got what I consider to be my best work yet waiting in the wings, a short story called “Soul Survivor.” Some of you reading this may have actually received a copy of the first draft (many thanks to those of you who read it and sent me feedback, it’s much appreciated). This story actually sort of ties back into my previous blog about zombies and World War Z. Zombies have been a hot topic for me as of late, to the point that I built a zombie themed Magic the Gathering deck (the nerds out there will understand).
Of course, this story shares the same title as the first chapter of my previous ongoing series, Extinction Event. If you’ve explored my site recently, though, you may have noticed that that series basically no longer exists. I decided to stop working on it a while back, in favor of writing this stronger, more focused short story. For those that actually read and enjoyed Extinction Event, I apologize that the series won’t be continuing, but I thank you for reading, nevertheless. I can assure you that when I’m finally able to share this new short story, it’ll be well worth the wait.
On the flip side, however, another project I’ve been working on for a while now that I will hopefully be able to share sooner rather than later is the third entry in my “Blood Sisters” saga. I fully intend to keep posting those and any other related stories to my site, so you’ll have something to look forward to in that regard. I’m not quite ready to share any specific details about the third lovely lady in the group, but I will share the title of her short story: “Vial.” Take from that what you will.
I was originally trying to write “Vial” from a second-person perspective. This was part of me wanting to write each Blood Sister story from a different angle. For example, “Recoil” is told plainly from the first-person perspective, and “Scars” is told completely through dialogue and internal monologue. I quickly realized, though, that writing in the second-person was highly unruly and didn’t add anything meaningful to this new story, so I’ve had to restructure it and find a new angle to work with. As my focus is solely on “Soul Survivor” right now, though, I make no promises as to when I’ll be dropping this one. Sometime this year, I’ll say that much.
In other writing news, I’ve also been looking into attending more reading and writing events lately, as a means to both expose myself to other peoples’ work and get more exposure for my own work as well. I’ll be sure to share on social media if I’m ever reading at such an event. I imagine any of these will pretty much always be in the Long Island/NYC area, so if you’re able to attend, I’d love to see some friendly faces.
Pivoting away from writing, anyone else attend any good concerts lately? Cuz I sure did. I attended Underoath’s tour with Spiritbox, Bad Omens, and Stray From the Path on March 17th (St. Patrick’s day, the aforementioned day of unyielding drunkenness), and Polaris and Like Moths to Flames’ co-headliner tour with Alpha Wolf and Invent Animate on March 25th. The former tour I attended primarily for Spiritbox and Bad Omens, as these are two of my top bands at the moment. The latter tour I attended because I hadn’t seen Polaris yet and I’d been dying to do so, and seeing LMTF is always a goddamn treat. Needless to say, both shows were out-freaking-standing. Although, I did get rocked in the jaw pretty harshly during Polaris’ set, so that wasn’t great. But hey, nothing’s broken, so all’s well that ends well, I say.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love attending concerts and watching live music, so having been able to get back into the groove of going to shows lately has been a gift. It’s part of why I’m so excited for April. As I mentioned, I’m attending one show or another each weekend this month (aside from this past weekend), and I’m very excited to get started this coming Saturday, April 9th, when I’ll seeing The Amity Affliction. But I’ll save all those fun details for later.
Otherwise, I hope March treated everyone else as well as it did me. I like to think I’ve been good about kicking myself to work harder lately, and that I’ve been making steady progress in doing what needs to get done. Although, I could probably be kicking a bit more and working even harder still.
It’s funny, because there’s also a part of me that wonders if I’m trying to do way too much way too fast. I feel like that’s either me senselessly trying to get out of doing what needs to get done or me psyching myself out for no apparent reason. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a bit of the typical self-doubt I can’t quite escape, something trying to keep me focused, you know? Again, I don't really know, but I’m hopeful that I’ll get over it soon enough.
Whatever the case may be, I keep moving forward. Which (and I know this is abundantly cliched), at the end of the day, is just about what any of us can do. I hope you’ll all join me in doing the same, and I hope you’ll tune in for the next blog sometime this month. Peace!